Being seduced by technology ignores what's lost

Gerald Kline

Published
6:00 pm CST, Thursday, January 9, 2003

The little red Bishup truck made its way down the back roads. Bishop Bob had not made the trip before since the Ludd's were new in the area. They had been attending East of Eden Church. Bob called East of Eden the "Church of Perpetual Vacancy." The latest pastor had stayed about six months before he decided he needed a "new challenge."

Bishop Bob was thinking to himself, "Janet's husband Larry is a new challenge. The visit should prove interesting."

Larry Ludd had been called "St. Ludd" by some members of the congregation. St. Ludd was thought to be the patron saint of those in rebellion against machines. He was martyred when he was run over by a machine, and the event was dutifully recorded as part of the torrent of information that has become part of our information age.

The little red Bishup truck made its way down Campmeeting Road between the loblolly pines. Janet had told Bob to turn left at the big cypress trees and it would be 1.7 miles down the road. The Bishup truck created a cloud of red dust as it moved down the clay road.

When Bishop Bob arrived, Larry invited him in and asked if he wanted a tall, cold one. Janet, listening from the kitchen, blurted out, "You never mind. I invited him over here for a cup of coffee."

The conversation over coffee and Janet's fresh pecan pie took a sorry turn after a few bites. Larry weighed in on the demons hiding in our machines and the loss of freedom each new technology created. "Have you noticed," asked Larry, "everything now must submit to technology? All forms of life have no purpose or meaning, unless it can be said so by our new machines. We can store more data than ever. Next comes machines to study the data and finally machines, which will act on the basis of the information."

Bishop Bob could see that Mr. Ludd's insights were leading him to only dark clouds and despair.

"Now, Larry," Bob reasoned, "you know that lawyers speak of the unintended consequences every time a new law is passed. Perhaps there are unintended consequences from our machines, and that is what will need some human control."

"Maybe," Larry replied as he stared off into space. "But when we can't do anything anymore because we don't have a machine to do it, it'll be a sorry world. I like to think I can still do some things. I like to think I'm still needed."

Bishop Bob reassured St. Ludd that being seduced by what technology can do ignores what is being lost in the process.

"Maybe that's part of your mission," Bob advised. "We'll need people who can listen to music without a cell phone and folks who have some spiritual and aesthetic values."

Janet was glad Bishop Bob had come, but St. Ludd remained quiet. He'd take it to heart.